ASK FATHER: We thought we had a valid marriage…

Posted March 14, 2019 1:56 pm by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
My wife and I are both converts to Catholicism, and to the best of our knowledge (we even consulted our RCIA people and a priest) we thought we had a valid marriage. Having had her doubts renewed by something on EWTN, my wife and I talked to a different priest who thinks we need a convalidation and we think we understand where the earlier miscommunication occurred; my question to you is: if we need a convalidation, do we need to confess for having had marital relations and/or taking Communion outside of a valid marriage when we, to the best of our non-Catholic-formed knowledge, were doing nothing